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The Technician April 29, 2014
Entertainment by Andrew Kraemer, staff
Movie Review: Captain America: the Winter Soldier
Released on April 4, 2014, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger, and part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many references are made throughout the movie to both the first Captain America movie and The Avengers, as well as a very small transition between the beginning of The Winter Soldier and the most recent season finale of ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Captain America: The Winter Soldier continues to boost Marvel’s strong presence in the movie industry with this action-packed and riveting film. While the first movie in the series introduced Captain America through the physical experiment conducted on Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), it offered a straightforward, actionpacked plot line throughout the entire film. The enemy was clearly known, and the steps taken to get to the climax of the film could be obviously seen. On the other hand, Captain America: The Winter Soldier offers an entirely new story that throws twists and turns at the audience. Now working as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Steve Rogers is introduced to life in the 21st century, in addition to working on various international assignments with Agent Romanov (Scarlett
by Melissa Mikolowski, Assistant Editor
Released March 21st, 2014, one of the movies still hogging the spotlight in theaters is Divergent. Based off the first book in a three part series by Veronica Roth, the setting takes place in a post-apocalyptic Chicago, Illinois. In the remains of what had been a thriving city lies a dystopian society broken up into five social groups, or factions. These factions are determined by the virtue possessed by an individual: honesty (Candor), kindness (Amity), selflessness (Abnegation), intelligence (Erudite), and bravery (Dauntless). A person chooses their faction at the age of sixteen during a choosing ceremony, which takes place after they undergo a simulation that reveals the faction the person best fits with. The story is told by Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley), raised an Abnegation, who discovers during the simulation that she showed aptitude in three categories instead of one. This is a phenomena known as Divergent. While it may seem beneficial for a member of society to possess multiple virtues, the Divergents are feared because they cannot be controlled through simulations nor do they fit in a category in the close-minded faction system. After struggling between her commitment to her family and her own selfish desires, Beatrice choses the Dauntless faction, shortens her name to Tris, and meets Four (Theo James), a mysterious member of Dauntless, who becomes her instructor. The story then follows her struggle to maintain the high standards of the Dauntless as well as hide her identity as the hunt for Divergents intensifies. The movie is a relatively accurate representation of the novel, though the book does
Johansson). However, early in the film, Captain America starts to question his true role in one of his major assignments. As a result, he begins to question Fury’s true intentions
for S.H.I.E.L.D. and himself. Fury eventually reveals to Captain America that S.H.I.E.L.D is creating a military-like force underground, out of the public eye. Questioning the need
Movie Review: Divergent
include some key character developments that are not shown in the movie. Two characters highly underdeveloped are Peter (Miles Teller) and Al (Christian Madsen). Peter was even more dislikable in the first book than in
the movie, going so far as to stab another initiate in the eye to become the first ranked, while Al has a more personal relationship with Tris, first showing romantic interest in her, and then accepting a more brotherly role. Another addition was the inclusion of Erudites in the final fight scene with Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet). It added a little more to the rivalry between Tris and Jeanine, and allowed for some more fight scenes, but took some of the value away from Four’s character.
for this program, the Captain leaves, deciding to discuss the issue with Fury later. Later, after an assassination attempt on Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised. Rogers and Agent Romanov infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and attempt to reclaim control, while trying to eliminate the Winter Soldier for good. Overall, Captain America: The Winter Soldier serves up a Marvel movie whose plot line is a bit different than the rest of the movies put out by Marvel. A whole new audience may be introduced, as throughout the movie, themes of ultimate authority and deception play a role due to the fact that no one really knows the real culprit behind S.H.I.E.L.D.’s demise until the end of the film. There’s an added element of how much security is needed and what is too much, as there are a few lines throughout the movie that questions how much security is too much, and how much liberty is sacrificed for the security of the public. The overall film earned a 7.2/10 star rating on Rotten Tomatoes, praised for being “suspenseful and politically astute.” Additionally the movie was liked by 94% of audiences, earning it the prestige of being another marvel hit. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America:_The_ Winter_Soldier
The cast for this movie was well chosen. Woodley captures a lot of the necessary emotion for the role. Her and James have a lot of chemistry in the film which adds to the realistic aspect. James played Four phenomenally well and actually did most of the fight scenes in the movie for his character. Ansel Elgort plays Tris’ brother Caleb Prior and will soon be starring in another film with Woodley, The Fault in Our Stars by author John Green. Winslet does a fantastic job as the strict, power-hungry Jeanine, the main antagonist in the film. Other notable roles are played by Christian Madsen, Miles Teller, and Jai Courtney, who plays Eric, the Dauntless leader and other main antagonist. The soundtrack for the film was composed by Junkie XL and Hans Zimmer. Zimmer is known for his award-winning tracks in The Lion King. The vocals are performed by Ellie Goulding, and the movie features her new hit “Beating Heart”. The overall composition was done well, necessary in such emotional films. Additionally, while the film was liked by about 77% of audience members, Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 5.4/10 stars, claiming that its focus on a niche young adult audience “undercuts its individualistic message.” This is a true aspect that sets the film apart from other books turned movies, such as The Hunger Games. However, while the film lacks a deeper message due to focus on character dynamics and audience experience, it makes up for it in the packing of intense action scenes and emotional loss, becoming an overall audience pleaser. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_(film)
April 29, 2014 | Volume 113 | Edition 1B Campus Updates pp. 2-3
by Andrea Lewis, Layout Editor
Campus Involvement pg. 6
GM Recall Update
In February, General Motors announced a recall on one of their ignition switches. The problem was recently identified as crashes resulting from cars shutting off while in motion. So what caused the cars to shut off? The ignition switch could be moved out of place by conditions as simple as extra keys on the chain and rough or bumpy conditions (for Michigan drivers, the latter would be more worrisome). Once the car is turned off, the driver has no control over the throttle. In certain models, airbags do not deploy if the ignition is off, further increasing the risk of greater injury or death. To those with recalled models, GM has offered rental cars until the current ignition switch can be replaced. The company has been proactive in providing compensation to those with injury/ fatality cases and covering property damage. The GM vehicles that are affected by the
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National pg. 4 Regional pg. 5 Entertainment pp. 7-8
ignition recall are the 2005-2010 Cobalt, 20062011 HHR, 2007-2010 Pontiac G5, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstice, 2003-2007 Saturn Ion, and the
2007-2010 Saturn Sky. To fix this very dangerous problem, GM sent out a recall on the ignition switch on the above listed models. When GM receives the all the parts needed,
Common Core What does it all mean?
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Opinion
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they will replace the ignition switch, the lock cylinder, and the keys. GM realizes that this is a very serious recall and is working diligently to fix the problem. In order to safely regain some control of the car, should this happen, the driver must remain calm, quickly shift the car into Neutral, and use the Parking/Emergency brake to control speed, and coast to a complete stop. As all cars now come equipped with power steering and power brakes, the ability to directly control the vehicle will be significantly diminished, but useable to an extent. Sources: http://www.gmignitionupdate.com/ http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/04/ gm_ignition_switch_recalls_tar.html http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/01/news/companies/ barra-congress-testimony/
Student Voices “Cribs” And Ethical Conduct
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Movie Reviews Divergent Captain America
New Location of Flint Farmers’ Market
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by Andrew Kraemer, staff
After more than 70 years, The Flint Farmers’ Market is returning to Downtown Flint. As of May 1st, 2014, the former Flint Journal printing facility will be the popular market’s new home. The new site is located off of I-475 on 300 E. First Street, across from the University of Michigan-Flint Campus. The market has already announced that there will be an additional 100 parking spaces compared to their former location, which increases the amount of spaces to 338. For additional parking purposes, the west side of the building will be razed, and repurposed as additional parking spaces. The clearing created by the razing will also house a replica of the pavilion found on the current
site of the farmers’ market. Additional projects on the new site include developing a multi-story atrium into a “town square” for the farmers’ market, building new truck bays for more storage, changing cold and dry storage to make loading and unloading more efficient, and adding new kitchens to allow vendors more access to incubators and appliances in commercial kitchens. There are also plans for a community room, a mezzanine with leasable space for vendors, additional restrooms, a market office, and a vendor lounge. The relocation of the Flint Farmers’ Market will cost approximately $30 million, according to the Uptown Reinvestment Corporation. Source: http://flintfarmersmarket.com/flint-farmersmarket-announces-new-details-on-move-doubling-downon-excitement-vendors-and-parking-flint/